weaning medication

[seanghatch]

Hello, I was diagnosed with asthma when I was about 5 years old. I'm now 20 and I go through an albuterol inhaler about every 2 months. Although I see no immediate side effects I'm beginning to worry about the lasting effects, and furthermore, I think I take it more often than I actually need to. Does anybody know if there are any lasting effects? Or can you make predictions based on how the drug actually works? (I'm unsure of the particulars).

Also, my goal here is really to lessen my intake of the stuff, so does anybody have any tips on that type of thing? My doctor said in times of doubt I should always take it, because you can cause more damage by letting yourself not breathe than taking the medicine, and while I value his opinion I don't think I have asthma as bad as my intake says I do.

[kehorner]

If you are having lots of attacks, you should talk to your doctor about using a daily medication to prevent them, rather than a rescue medication once they start. There is a pill (singulair), or lots of inhaled steroids that are taken once a day (flovent, serevent, advair...). These greatly reduce the number of attacks that you are having, and thus you will not need to use the albuterol as much.

However, there really isn't much of a long-term risk with using the albuterol, either.